Summer Fun

It has been record breaking hot here for days without a break! We have just been melting in our no air conditioning house. So we have filled our days with sprinklers, otter pops and trips in our air conditioned car. Corinne has been the funniest girl to watch as she handles the heat. My favorite is her trying to eat an otter pop. It melted before she finished it so she decided to suck up the melted pop off her tray.

Super Star!

Kaylee started doing gymnastics this summer. It has been such an awesome thing for her. She has enjoyed it so much and it has given her something to excel at. She is so fun to watch and practices at home all the time. I finally remembered to bring my camera to document her new love.

The doggy kick on a balance beamCheck out that cartwheel!

Kaylee is working on jumping further than Mr. Jeff. If she does he owes her a lolly pop :) I love seeing her working hard and being passionate about something.

She's Walking

Corinne turned 15 months old yesterday and has only started walking last week. She had no desire to walk when there was enough people around her to get her what she wanted, and she crawled plenty fast. But with some persuasion from me and lots of practicing she finally took to it. Better late than never! Now she walks everywhere, which may confuse people why I encouraged this so much. But I don't like crawling babies because then they want to crawl everywhere and I have a much easier time letting a baby walk in the store than crawl. Just not as dirty. Anyways we love our baby and she is growing up! Isn't she beautiful!!!

July 4th

This was a fun fourth of July. Unfortunately I only remembered my camera for the barbecue. Damon's brother Shane and his wife Jami are in town, their first visit since their move to Texas last year. The girls missed them so much. My parents came, Damon's mom and our good friend Cody. So we BBQ'ed all day Damon made his famous ribs and wings. They were a hit with everyone, especially Kaylee. Then we went to see the fireworks with our good friends the Jenkins and their five kids. Afterwards we came back and lit our own fireworks with our great neighbors the Bertmans. Alex their 13 yr. old son was the official "lighter" of the evening. It was so fun. Corinne was in bed, Kaylee couldn't do enough sparklers. She loved them!!! And Claire wasn't sure about the whole thing. Fire scares her especially when it is at the end of a stick her sister is swinging around everywhere. It was a fun night and they all slept in till 9:30 the next morning, (Kaylee till 10:30!)

Notice the screen door is not on the door but leaning up against the house. Corinne the day before was hitting the screen and pushed it right out landing flat on her face on the deck ontop of the screen. Notice the good scrape on her forehead and nose.

This is a Family favorite tradition. My Mom's Cheesecake flag! So I of course have to carry on the tradition and made one for our BBQ. Below is the super-easy recipe. Enjoy!Impossible Cheesecake

3/4 cup sugar

2-8oz packages of cream cheese softened

1/2 cup Bisquick

2 eggs

2 tea. Vanilla

1+ tea. lemon zest (grated lemon peel)

Mix all ingredients until smooth

Pour into a greased 9x13 pan

Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes

To make the flag you cut a bunch of strawberries in half. Make a square of blueberries line the strawberries up to make the stripes and then use the whipped cream in a can for the white stripes. Serve immediately. (the cream doesn't keep shape for long)

Fire

The week before the 4th of July we had a fire in the open space behind our house. The girls were out playing and yelled "Mom there's a fire back here" confused I casually walked out and then immediately called 911. While i was giving them the information the fire moved from just above the tree line to half way up the hill. The guy who's house was in danger finally noticed and was yelling getting his family out of the yard and then he started spraying down his fence with his hose and threw the hose over the fence to get the fire. About then the firemen got here and started putting it out. It was crazy! I have never been so close to a wild fire and watched it progress. I was to much in shock to grab my camera until it was almost done and the firemen got there. Highlands Ranch mows a line behind all the fences that back to open space, and that mow line is where the fire stopped and started to move sideways. It saved the fence and the house.